(Mongabay) Leopard mothers often hide their cubs when they are going out hunting or in the process of relocation, and in Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, workers on tea estates often pick up these cubs, assuming they are either abandoned or lost.

When baby leopards are fetched by humans, many people gather to watch what’s unfolding, forcing the leopard mom to retreat rather than approach the cub, making reunion efforts extra difficult for wildlife rangers.

Other wild cats, specially fishing cats and rusty-spotted cats living close to human settlements are also picked up, sometimes by well-meaning people who assume these cubs, too, are lost or abandoned.

As leopards partly share the same tea estate as humans, their territories often cross into fragmented forests where they take refuge in the absence of quality wildernesses, roaming closer to humans and increasing encounters which can escalate into conflicts.

From time to time, there are media flashes about leopard cubs being rescued and some reports carry moving video footage of how well-meaning village folk, especially estate workers in the central hills, hand these cubs over to wildlife authorities. Unlike the majestic and fiery demeanor of leopard moms and dads, leopard cubs are cuddlesome balls of fur, much like kittens at home. When these adorable creatures are found alone in some nook, people don’t have the heart to just leave them there. Convinced the cubs are lost in the wild, they pick them up, fearing the helpless cubs will be in harm’s way if not rescued.

Villagers do this wholeheartedly, full of good intentions, but picking up a little leopard cub should not be done without a proper assessment of their surroundings and without understanding the possible reasons as to why the cub is there. Often, the mom leaves her cubs in small hideouts to go on brief hunting trips, or the mom could be in the process of relocating her cubs to a safer location, said Anjali Watson of the Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT), an expert on the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya).

“The cubs’ best chance of survival lies with the mother’s guidance. The best option for their survival is to leave them where they are found,” Watson told Mongabay.

In recent weeks, three separate incidents of villagers picking leopard cubs were reported in the media. All three incidents were reported from the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka where leopards share the island’s tea-growing landscape.

“It is a daunting task to raise a leopard cub that is just a few weeks old. Just like human babies, these cubs also depend on the mother’s care during the initial stage of their lives,” says Pinidiya Akalanka, a veterinary surgeon with the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) who oversees the Central Highlands wildlife region.